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"Safdie is not bowing down to the filmmaking gods, he's just having fun playing in their realm, totally unabashed, without pretension." – Twitch
Eléonore is young, curious and a kleptomaniac. Lonely and childlike, she wanders the streets of New York City, a free-spirited thief who is searching for meaning and wonder in the bags of the people she encounters.
Josh Safdie was originally commissioned by a Manhattan studio to create a short film that would promote a line of handbags, but instead he (with help from his brother) produced a feature-length, 16mm, movie about a childlike woman robbing people across the city. Starring Safdie regular Eléonore Hendricks, The Pleasure of Being Robbed was the only American film selected to play in the 2008 Directors' Fortnight at Cannes.
"Delightful ... A fresh, original work and one that bears the marks of New Wave-era art cinema." – Salon
Find out more about the Talking Pictures panel event related to this screening.